The earnings of the former monopoly, which operates in about
a dozen territories across the Middle East, Africa and Asia,
have been volatile since mid-2013 when foreign exchange losses
and plunging earnings from Iraq outweighed a strong domestic
performance.

Ooredoo made a net profit of 879 million Qatari riyals
($241.44 million) in the three months to March 31, it said in a
statement. This compares with a profit of 501 million riyals in
the year-earlier period.

Analysts at EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain polled by Reuters
had forecast majority state-owned Ooredoo would make a quarterly
profit of 452.5 million riyals and 487 million riyals
respectively.